Luther's Wars

"Y'all always let them pace off the distance from the helicopter pad to the ammo dump like that?"

Staff Sergeant Estrada followed his gaze for a long moment.

"Sonuvabitch." He glanced at the laconic private and gave a long sigh. "Hell, Son. Welcome Home."

Post Production Notes

The world seems quite intent on trying to give us as little time to write as possible, but we have pages and pages of outlines and plans -- character studies, research notes, intros written -- and we will get to them all sooner or later.

Again, special thanks to sbrooks03x, SleeperyJim, Chasten and Bebop03; again, the editing, beta reading and suggestions were critical and irreplaceable. The readers benefit from their efforts in a huge way even though my capacity to make mistakes exceeds anyone's capacity to fix them.

Another special thanks to the old moonshiners and mechanics who gave us advice on the moonshine trade, told us tales of the Ozarks Moonshine wars and described their dream blockade running car to us. They also shared more than one jar of moonshine with us. We may, in fact, have a couple cases of "samples" from across half the Ozarks at this point. Nobody does it for profit anymore -- it's simply not profitable any longer - but the art is certainly not lost. We've been shown staggeringly complicated stills -- far more complex than the simple five gallon copper pot still that (usually) sits at the end of our bar.

As always, we have to say thanks to the readers -- we've never really gotten used to how much support we've gotten -- it still feels unreal. That support is why we continue to write -- realizing we can bring some entertainment to people, maybe brighten a day or two. Speaking of 'we'; The Missus continues to envision plots and characters, and she has a unique ability to get people to talk to her.

On a more solemn note, I'd also like to give a nod to the men who influenced me very early in my Army career, several of whom were former members of MACV-SOG:

So raise a glass to Teddy Bear, a hunter's hunter; to Jungle Jim; To the Chief -- the sole survivor of his squad, and the inspiration for the loss of McCabe's squad; To GySgt "Cricket"- a good man with maybe just a touch of over-enthusiastic pyromania; to the inscrutable Mister Cook; And finally to Master Sergeant Raul "Roy" Benavidez whose advice and humor (and tolerance for stupid questions) will never be forgotten. All passed on now, but never forgotten:

Dug his grave with a silver spade

Lowered him down with a golden chain.

Hey, hey, Blue,

You're a good dog, you.

Link by link I lowered the chain,

And with each link, I called his name.

Hey, hey, Blue,

You're a good dog, you.

*****

There are several era and location(s) specific terms here; most of those terms are explained clearly enough in the text, but there are few that might need some expansion here.

GLOSSARY

Boo Coo Dinky Dau = Beaucoup Dien Cai Dau: Common hybrid French-Vietnamese phrase for "crazy."

Chiêu Hồi: "Open Arms" North Vietnamese Defector Program. A small number of these defectors became Kit Carson Scouts or Tiger Scouts who worked directly with US units.

Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) South Vietnamese irregular military units from minority populations. The transition from duty with the CIDG to the classified and dangerous missions conducted by the SOG was a fairly typical rite of passage.

'66 Dodge Coronet. With a 426 Hemi V8. Not many were made with this engine, but blockade runners quickly learned to drop the massively powerful 426 into these as an aftermarket modification. Four speed manual was preferred among moonshine runners with up to ten stacked leaf springs to keep it level with a heavy load. Under dash switches were installed to cut off rear and break lights, and dim red running lights under the front bim[er for moving on dark roads at night. For the old moonshine runners and old mechanics we talked with, this was the absolute dream. Most of them admitted that they made do with more sensible pick-up trucks with false beds.

FNG: Fucking New Guy.

Heads: Short for potheads; there were plenty of them, even in elite units in Vietnam; heavy users were not trusted in the bush by anyone with any sense.

Little People: Indigenous soldiers. Vietnamese, Chinese Nung mercenaries, Cambodian, Bru, Rade and other tribes. "Little People" absolutely was not and is not a pejorative among the MACV-SOG Soldiers (and Marines, Sailors and Airmen). The indigenous soldiers were the largest part of nearly all of the STs, RTs, Hatchet Teams etc. An ST might only have two US Special Forces members and four to eight of the Indigenous Soldiers. The respect was mutual and ran to the very core of these units.

MACV-SOG: Military Assistance Command -Studies and Observation Group: was a highly classified, multi-service United States special operations unit which conducted covert unconventional warfare operations prior to and during the Vietnam War. There were several sections under SOG -- airborne surveillance and covert transport, secret Navy operations -- the Nasty-class patrol boats with their Norwegian mercenary captains and others. The largest was OPLAN-35 (Ground) conducted cross border operations into Laos -- SHINING BRASS and Cambodia -- DANIEL BOONE later called SALEM HOUSE. The organization consisted of mercenaries, Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, the United States Air Force (USAF), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Australian SAS, USMC Force Recon, along with many others. There were several types of teams ranging from Recon Teams (RTs) with just two to three Special Forces Soldiers with four to nine indigenous mercenaries to Hatchet Force platoon and company operations with up to a hundred men. OPLAN-35 occasionally used other assets -- including a few teams from 78th Infantry Detachment (LRP), assigned to the 3d Brigade, 82d Airborne Division (Separate), which was eventually designated Company 0 (RANGER), 75th Infantry (Airborne). LRRP, 3rd Brigade 82nd ABN.

Towards the end, particularly after mid-1969, it was clear to everyone that MACV-SOG was compromised -- teams outright disappeared and NSA even picked up radio transmissions from Saigon with the names and serial numbers of an RT that was slated for insertion, along with the exact insertion coordinates. There were likely several moles, some at the highest levels of the Republic of Vietnam government, along with information provided to the Soviets by the Walker spy ring that may have assisted the North Vietnamese. Rumors still persist of Americans in Saigon who had been turned, but none have ever been officially identified.

MAT-49: A French made 9mm submachine gun produced from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s. Used by Viet Cong and MACV-SOG teams alike. Used here by Sunny.

The Recondo Knife: Each class honor graduate was presented with a knife. Many of these knives, particularly awarded later in the war were Gerber Mark II combat knives, but a number of these knives were custom MACV-SOG bowie knives, some of which had an odd reddish plum colored protective bluing on the blade.

SLAM: Search - Locate - Annihilate - Mission.

Slack/Walk slack/Slackman: Second soldier in a patrol, walks behind the point man.

Shriver, Jerry aka "Mad Dog": A legendary figure in MACV-SOG, Sergeant First Class Jerry Shriver was the definitive Warrior. He disappeared on 24 April 1969, and his status is "Presumed Dead, Body Not Recovered." He was promoted posthumously to Master Sergeant.

Thanh: bright, sunny, light or "ear pleasing" sound or delicate, thing of high value. Has many meanings, such as blue (sky), slender and elegant looking ( ex: The way you dress looks "thanh thanh", or the way you dress looks "thanh nha." In this case, Bugs translates it as "Sunny."